In the days when nobody was saying anything positive about Indians, and the only images people had of them originated in either Hollywood or Madison Avenue, positive reinforcement in a song was just as important as protesting wrongs. While folk like James Brown, Isaac Hayes, and others were extolling the virtues of Black Power, the only voice at all singing about Indians was Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Of course she didn't only sing about Indians, she sang other music as well, and included on this new Vanguard Visionaries disc is her cover of Neil Young's classic "Helpless." It must be something about the song, but it really only sounds right when sung by a person with a voice up in the near falsetto range. Her version is every bit as evocative and chilling as Mr. Young's original.
You might not know very much about Buffy Sainte-Marie anymore, she semi retired from music a while back to start work on an arts program for young Native Americans across North America. I think her last studio album was back in the early '90s, and it was just as powerful and potent as ever. Listening to this disc will make you wonder how you ever missed hearing such a distinctive and passionate voice.
Some music when you listen to it thirty years after it was originally released loses its impact and power. That's not the case here with the music of Buffy Sainte-Marie; it's just as potent and powerful as it was when first released. If you missed it then, make sure you don't miss this second opportunity to experience one of the most original female pop vocalists of the past forty years.
Article comments
1 - David Rachlin
This was an excellent article about one of North America's greatest gifts to the world. Buffy Sainte-Marie is a brilliant artist and humantarian whose music and message are timeless.
2 - Bill
Amen. I was lucky enough to see per perform this past June at the Clearwater Festival in NY and she stole the show. She wasn't the closer (Bruce Cockburn and then the Cowboy Junkies played after her) but the audience responded the most loudly and positively to her. She was certainly on top of her game that day.
3 - JT
Jennifer Warnes, not Warrens, Richard Marcus. I hope it was just your typist. Her name should be correctly noted, I would hope, by a journalist who credits her.
4 - President_dudley
Dear Mr. Marcus,
Thanks for this. Ms. Sainte-Marie's work is likely the most under-recognised of any artist i know, and any recognition of her is well regarded.
However, just to quibble, when you say she never recorded "Up Where We Belong": not so.
Go to her website: cluck on Discography. At the bottom you'll find a recording by that name with her recording of that song. It was released only in Canada & UK if i'm right about that, but worth tracking down. For instance, the "God Is Alive" is a fresh, stripped down version not her electronic rendering on "Illuminations".
That said, thanks again, & if you can allow it, here's an mp3 of Buffy's from the 2007 Clearwater Festival of "Up Where We Belong" at Sendspace.
Love lift us up,
dudley
5 - Richard Marcus
Dudley
It's funny you know I had actually got the impression that Buffy had never recorded the song form her when I last saw her in concert in 1995 - she intorduced it by saying she had never done a studio recording of it.
Of couse it was much more interesting in her hands than the schmaltzy version from the movie. Anyway I stand corrected on that and thanks very much for writing in.
As usual my information is a decade out of date.
cheers
Richard Marcus
6 - pieter
Dear Richard, thank you for this great article. Am I allowed to use this on the Tribute Site: Buffy Sainte-Marie, a legend in her own time.
Pieter
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